Quinn to sign measure ending legislative scholarships

Tuesday

May 22, 2012 at 12:01 AMMay 22, 2012 at 10:01 PM

SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Pat Quinn said Monday that he will sign a bill abolishing legislators’ century-old authority to give tuition waivers to students to attend public colleges and universities in Illinois.

DAVID THOMAS

SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Pat Quinn said Monday that he will sign a bill abolishing legislators’ century-old authority to give tuition waivers to students to attend public colleges and universities in Illinois.

The Illinois House voted 79-32 Monday to end the program, sending the measure, House Bill 3810, to Quinn.

The legislation also would create a task force to examine other tuition waivers offered by public universities, including those given to graduate students and military veterans.

Quinn said the focus of scholarships and tuition waivers should be on those in financial need.

"There is no place for a political scholarship program in Illinois,” he said in a statement. “As I have repeatedly advocated, scholarships -- paid for by Illinois taxpayers – should be awarded only to those with merit who are in true financial need. Abolishing this program is the right thing to do."

The bill’s chief sponsor, Rep. Fred Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates, said the program was outdated and easily abused.

“Folks, here’s the kicker. People who keep talking about reforming this thing, folks who say we set more rules – we have only one rule for the tuition waivers. And that’s basically that you have to reside in the district. We can’t even do that,” Crespo said.

The tuition waivers have been scrutinized by watchdog organizations, media outlets, and in one case, federal prosecutors. Some legislators have given tuition waivers to family members of lobbyists and other people with political connections.

However, some lawmakers said Monday the actions of a few were spoiling the good the tuition waivers did.

“Eight (school) superintendents met every year and chose those young people,” Rep. Jim Sacia, R-Pecatonica, said of the process he has used to select scholarship recipients. “They chose them based on merit. They chose them based on ability. They chose them based on the simple knowledge that we were selecting them in the right way.”